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I've currently have 5 DVR's. 2 HR24's and the other three older DVR's. I pay $6 per month for each of these 4 DVR's, $8 for DVR service, and then $3 for whole home. So, this totals $35.

I understand there is a $20 per month fee for the Genie, and no charge for each of the TV boxes. Does this also include the monthly DVR service and the whole home? Would those charges go away if I upgrade to the Genie? I actually like my setup, but will switch if my monthly charges go down. Are there any other benefits of the Genie vs my current setup? Finally, can a Slingbox be hooked up to the Genie?

Just called and said "Cancel Service" at the automated prompt. Got through to a CSR. She sounded like Whoopi Goldberg so thought I might be in for a tough negotiation

I explained to her that my wife had seen the Dish hopper commercials and was interested in the 5 tuner DVR to eliminate programming issues due to recording conflicts. I told her that I heard they had something similar but that on my previous call the tech told me the upgrade fee was $299 plus $50 install fee. I then said, I'm just calling to find out how much it will cost me to cancel, and when my 2 year commitment expires.

After several minutes of being on hold, she came back and indicated that since I had been a long time loyal customer (~10 yrs) they wanted to try to make it work and offered to give me a $200 credit to help with the cost.

After doing the math and estimating the out of pocket cost at $150, I told her that was too much expense here at the Holiday's and that I couldn't do it. She did some additional figuring and then offered to give me a 12 month DVR service fee credit. At $8 per month, that comes to $96. I agreed to accept that and they will be installing my new Genie on Friday Nov 30th (assuming that I get wife approval before then).

I'll get an additional $152 charge on my January bill that will be partially offset over the course of the year with my DVR service fee credit. Of course, it will also mean an additional 2 year commitment, which is pretty standard.

Overall, I'm happy with the deal but I do need to verify that there will not be an additional $20 per month "Advanced Receiver Fee". That's a deal killer if so and I'll be moving to Uverse or Dish. I believe I'm already paying something similar with the HR24 which is partially waived because of "Auto pay".

UPDATE: Just confirmed with D* that my bill will remain the same and I'm apparently already paying the "advanced receiver fee" in the form of a $10/mo HD fee and an $8/mo DVR fee. They are currently waiving the $10 HD fee since I'm using paperless billing.

I've currently have 5 DVR's. 2 HR24's and the other three older DVR's. I pay $6 per month for each of these 4 DVR's, $8 for DVR service, and then $3 for whole home. So, this totals $35.

I understand there is a $20 per month fee for the Genie, and no charge for each of the TV boxes. Does this also include the monthly DVR service and the whole home? Would those charges go away if I upgrade to the Genie? I actually like my setup, but will switch if my monthly charges go down. Are there any other benefits of the Genie vs my current setup? Finally, can a Slingbox be hooked up to the Genie?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

You have a lot of wrong info. The genie has the exact same cost structure as a HR24. You could swap it for one of your older DVRs and the costs to you would be no different than they are today. If you have more DVRs than tvs, you could swap two of your older units for one genie and actually gain one more tuner to record on, pip, and lose one box, lowering your bill by one $6 a month mirror fee.

Since your system has been around the Whole Home Service, DVR, and Hi Definition fees are all on their own lines. New customers have one line for all three charges that is $20. There is no genie fee.

Each client box that you get still also carries a mirroring fee just like any other box.

You have a lot of wrong info. The genie has the exact same cost structure as a HR24. You could swap it for one of your older DVRs and the costs to you would be no different than they are today. If you have more DVRs than tvs, you could swap two of your older units for one genie and actually gain one more tuner to record on, pip, and lose one box, lowering your bill by one $6 a month mirror fee.

Since your system has been around the Whole Home Service, DVR, and Hi Definition fees are all on their own lines. New customers have one line for all three charges that is $20. There is no genie fee.

Each client box that you get still also carries a mirroring fee just like any other box.

How many tvs do you actually have?

Thanks for the info. I've got 5 DVR's each connected to a TV. So 5 TV's. In a nutshell what I'm wanting to know is whether my monthly charges would come down if I switched over to a Genie.

Well as a follow up to my earlier posts. My Dish install was yesterday. One hopper and two Joey's

The Dish Installer was able to reuse the existing DTV mount, and everything went smooth. We did have to run two new lines since he accidentally chunked up the existing one with his drill trying to make a second hole... Very happy with the Hopper and Joey setup so far. The thing is SOOO fast it's crazy. The thing moves as fast as you can command it.

I put one Joey behind the Master Bedroom TV and it's streaming from the Hopper via hard wired gigabit only, no coax. pretty sweet. And since the Hopper is in the basement I routed the antenna (coax) up stairs and that works quite well.

Might actually retire my Harmony and just use the UHF remotes. Time will tell.

Time will tell how everything works out but I'm quite happy with the change, and the free equipment upgrade.

I was offered a free HR34 when I called to get ST a few months ago. I declined when they informed me self install was not an option. I've always installed my own Directv equipment since 1995. Ordered an HR34 from Solid Signal for $349 on Thursday along with a SWM 16 from EBay. I will install Thanksgiving week. Paying for equipment is worth it to me to avoid the CSR and Tech roulette that is so well documented here.

Why? You don't own the equipment. Why pay SS $349 for an HR34 that you don't own, when you can pay D* $199 for one as I did? You still have to activate it with D* whoever you get it from, and D* owns the device.

I paid a total of $248 for an HR34, a Genie thin client, a full install of both devices, and the tech deactivating and removing my three HR24 DVRs so that I didn't have to get boxes shipped to me in order to return the DVRs.

The whole process, including activation of the HR34 and the Genie client, took about 30 minutes, and the tech left with my old DVRs.

I have purchased from the excellent Solid Signal in the past in order to guarantee getting the model of DVR that I desired, but with the HR34, why pay SS $349 when you can pay D* $199?

I just tried this yesterday for my neighbor. He was upgrading from an old SD only account with just one standard def receiver, and the old Total Choice package.

My results weren't as good as some on here. I was only able to get them to come down to $149 for the HR34, one C31 client for free, and one C31 client for $99. So $248 out of pocket total. Then of course the new HD, DVR, MRV, and two additional receiver fees for another $33/month. My neighbor was not willing to do that.

So I kept talking to them and was able to get one HD-DVR and two HD receivers for free instead of the HR34 and C31 clients. To offset the increase in the monthly fees the CSR changed him over to the current choice package, and was able to give him a $27/month discount on his service for a year. So now his bill should only go up by $6/month for the next year, then it will jump up the remaining $27 dollars.

I guess even though he has been a customer for around 15 years, his low package, and only having one receiver didn't give him a good enough rating to get them to give a better deal on the Genie setup. I'm hoping he is happy with what he got in the long run though. They have never had a DVR before, and I told him once he gets one and starts using it I'm sure he will see that the $11/month cost is probably going to be worth it.

Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
-by Jack Handy

Why? You don't own the equipment. Why pay SS $349 for an HR34 that you don't own, when you can pay D* $199 for one as I did? You still have to activate it with D* whoever you get it from, and D* owns the device.

I paid a total of $248 for an HR34, a Genie thin client, a full install of both devices, and the tech deactivating and removing my three HR24 DVRs so that I didn't have to get boxes shipped to me in order to return the DVRs.

The whole process, including activation of the HR34 and the Genie client, took about 30 minutes, and the tech left with my old DVRs.

I have purchased from the excellent Solid Signal in the past in order to guarantee getting the model of DVR that I desired, but with the HR34, why pay SS $349 when you can pay D* $199?

My previous explanation when asked earlier on in the thread:

In addition to those reasons I already mentioned, personal preference and the joy of doing things myself. I could protest the current Directv model of no self-installs but that is the company's preference. Two years doesn't matter, been a customer since 1995 and I'm not going anywhere. Probably not economically sensible (it's just money and what entertainment is a sensible investment?) but the peace of mind is priceless. Did my self-install today. Had to put the old LNB back on the dish (I had installed a SWiM LNB a few years ago) so I would have four inputs into the SWiM 16. Moved a few receivers around and installed the Genie. Called to activate and everything is great. What a nice machine. The wife, daughter and myself are thrilled that we now have nine available tuners to record on. No more recording conflicts.

I just called to get a genie but the csr didn't understand that i had no indention on paying a bloody cent on the freaking thing when i can get a hopper for free.I am a long time sub, 13 years whit a spotless payment record because of auto pay.

I am not complaining i understand that the they can only do what they are told to do but i am thinking about leaving pay tv and just using the antenna but i have to check with my better half epically when she is now paying for Directv, it is like the double whammy lose Directtv lose Gf of 13 years.

Well i guess i am complaining but what c an i do jump out the freeking window
i only breaa ancle or something:nono:

In addition to those reasons I already mentioned, personal preference and the joy of doing things myself. I could protest the current Directv model of no self-installs but that is the company's preference. Two years doesn't matter, been a customer since 1995 and I'm not going anywhere. Probably not economically sensible (it's just money and what entertainment is a sensible investment?) but the peace of mind is priceless. Did my self-install today. Had to put the old LNB back on the dish (I had installed a SWiM LNB a few years ago) so I would have four inputs into the SWiM 16. Moved a few receivers around and installed the Genie. Called to activate and everything is great. What a nice machine. The wife, daughter and myself are thrilled that we now have nine available tuners to record on. No more recording conflicts.

LOL. DirectTV wishes all customers were like you ! Pay for equipment even though they offered it to you for free, install yourself for the joy of it and pay your monthly bill with a smile on your face

I'm also a 15 year customer on Auto-pay and the best deal I could get was $100 discount for the Genie. I'm not too concerned though, I figure I'll give it some time and eventually I'll be offered a free upgrade.

I called to cancel and was given about $30 off a month for a year, 3 months of all the movie channels free, a $200 gift card and was offered the genie (2 rooms) for $49. I guess being a loyal customer for 19 years paid off.

I called to cancel and was given about $30 off a month for a year, 3 months of all the movie channels free, a $200 gift card and was offered the genie (2 rooms) for $49. I guess being a loyal customer for 19 years paid off.

I called a few days later to address a problem with some receivers not getting 103 sat. Talked to case management and in the process was offered a free equipment upgrade since I had the protection plan. I have a total of 17 tuners with the genie swap, to make a long story short I got the following totally free:

I did end up buying a swm-E2 because I didn't like how I was going to have to mount the SWM-16 upside down.

On a side note I had the 5 LNB dish. I have not noticed any problems with HD on HR21 receivers, but the newer receivers in the kids room were missing HD channels. The tech could not even get the 103 sat to register on his meter, se he replaced LNB and all is working now.

Just got my Genie & three clients a couple of days ago. It replaced an HR-21 and a SD DVR (don't remember the model). The installer charged me $50 for doing one wire run. I had coax running to the other two TV's. The interesting thing was that the $50 went to him, not to DirecTV. Whatever. Anyway, that's the only thing I had to pay up front. According to what DTV told me, I'll be paying monthly charges of $3 for whole home, and $6 each for two of the clients.

Actually, when I called, I was not aware that the Genie had been released. I was wanting to replace the SD DVR with HD. When she asked if I was wanting the Genie, I asked how much. She said that it was no cost for new customers. So I asked, well, how much for me? She said she'd look, and then said she was surprised that it was offering me the Genie plus one client for free. I jumped on that.

I'm happy with it so far. Dunno about the Genie Recommends thing yet, we'll see, but the menus are faster than my HR-21 was. And they expanded the series manager so that it has more than 50 slots. That's great! I was always running out.

BTW, someone was talking about some kind of extended warranty thing for Texas that gets you free upgrades every two years. As far as I know, I'm not on that. I am in Texas, though.

In addition to those reasons I already mentioned, personal preference and the joy of doing things myself. I could protest the current Directv model of no self-installs but that is the company's preference. Two years doesn't matter, been a customer since 1995 and I'm not going anywhere. Probably not economically sensible (it's just money and what entertainment is a sensible investment?) but the peace of mind is priceless. Did my self-install today. Had to put the old LNB back on the dish (I had installed a SWiM LNB a few years ago) so I would have four inputs into the SWiM 16. Moved a few receivers around and installed the Genie. Called to activate and everything is great. What a nice machine. The wife, daughter and myself are thrilled that we now have nine available tuners to record on. No more recording conflicts.

I simply had everything in place for the installer - I had already balanced the tuner count on the SWM, run the coax, the HDMI and digital audio lines, I even ran the power cord. All he had to do was plug it in and turn it on. He was in and out of here in under 20 minutes.

BTW, someone was talking about some kind of extended warranty thing for Texas that gets you free upgrades every two years. As far as I know, I'm not on that. I am in Texas, though.

It was mentioned several months ago that Texas customers had a $2 increase on their protection plan and it now allows for a free upgrade every two years. It's not a special addition, it's now built into your regular protection plan coverage.

It was mentioned several months ago that Texas customers had a $2 increase on their protection plan and it now allows for a free upgrade every two years. It's not a special addition, it's now built into your regular protection plan coverage.

This is correct. The trial for this program is being done in Texas and I was able to take advantage of it. Note that you had to have been on the protection plan for at least 1 year before you can take advantage of your first free upgrade (to prevent people signing up just to get a bunch of new equipment and then dropping it afterwards I imagine). I was able to get a Genie and 2 C31 clients for free (albeit you are locked into another two year contract though).

Looking to make the jump myself. I've been holding on to my HR20 and H20 up untill now because DTV still hadn't done HD locals in my area. As of a month ago they finally launched.

I have some recordings on the HR20 that I'd like to keep, what are my options? Use it as an active receiver? The UI is sooo slow it drives me crazy. Can I keep it in a closet somewhere to serve the recordings over WH and not pay the receiver fee? I understand from reading some threads that it's not possible to transfer recordings to the new DVR.

I still need to do some more reading here, I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to need a new dish or not, right now I have the non-SWiM AU9 I believe.

*EDIT* Oh, and I'm using an alternate IR code set in my home theater - does the Genie still have this feature?